Tales of the 22nd Long Roamers Rangers
by Char Osborn
Summary: A tale about a NCR trooper turned Ranger, the courier, boone, Raul, and members of the 22nd as they travel to distance states, scouting settlements and convincing towns to join the NCR and a later meeting with a stranger near the Mississippi River.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Wanna see the world?

Another dozen rounds whizzed by Dak's head as he took cover behind one of the numerous sandbag covers on the dam. He panted heavily as he started to panic and trying to free the jammed round in his service rifle. He screamed out in frustration and anger as he threw the useless rifle over the side of the dam, like the colonel had ordered them to earlier. Looking around frantically at his fellow NCR troopers, trying to find a wounded or dead trooper so he could take his rifle, to his dismay, he spotted a soldier with his arm blown off and his rifle broken in two. Then he heard the bone chilling sound of a Legion charge cry and he peaked around the corner to see a bunch of veteran legionaries with some Vexillarius, the standard bearers of the Legion forces, charging forward with axes, sledge hammers, and machetes.

"Holy shit, here they come! Fire, fire, fire!" An officer screamed as he stood up with his 9mm SMG and started firing in panicked bursts, dropping a charging legionnaire heading straight for him. Then his firing was cut short as a throwing spear penetrated his throat and he fell hard, popping the spear up a little. Another soldier stood and started firing with his service rifle, soon followed by three others, but a grenade landed in their cover and silenced them. Another trooper stood holding a light machine gun and sprayed left and right, dropping a few legionnaires before taking cover and reloading. A group of troopers ran up to try and fortify the forward positions and half of them were cut down by legion rifle fire and spears.

Dak tried to make a move for the officer's SMG when he felt a body crash hard into his. He stumbled to the ground and looked up and was face to face with a prime legionnaire and smelt his awful breath as the prime screamed in his face, rising up his machete to stab deep inside Dak. Reacting more on muscle memory more than training, Dak drew his combat knife and proceeded to stab the prime in the neck repeatedly until he fell limp on top of him. He frantically kicked the prime's body away as he saw two more legionaries turn towards him; he reached for the 9mm and felt it on his finger tips as he desperately willed his fingers closer to the weapon. A long shadow fell over him and Dak closed his eyes and started to pray as he readied himself for the inevitable death blow about to befall him. He heard two loud bursts from what could only have been an assault carbine and flinched when he felt what he thought were rounds striking his body. To his surprising, the "rounds" only felt hot, but didn't penetrate him; he looked around him and saw spent 5mm shells laying on him. He looked up and saw two men standing side by side, both were wearing desert ranger armor and both were sporting 1st recon berets, one was holding a marksmen carbine and the other was reloading his assault carbine. Then the man with the assault carbine turned and looked down at Dak and offered his hand. Dak took a deep breath and was shocked when he realized he was face to face with the Courier and quickly took up his hand and got up with the Courier's help.

The Courier nodded at Dak, "are you okay trooper?"

"Ye…yes sir…I am think I am okay," Dak felt his whole body shake and the Courier put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him down behind the sandbags again as another volley of fire came from the direction of the Legion's forces.

"Take this trooper, you're going to need it," said the other man as he held out a marksmen carbine, it was Boone, the retired 1st recon sniper who was famous for working with the Courier. As Dak took the carbine from Boone, then Boone pulled a sniper painted in desert camouflage design from behind him and snipe two incoming legion mongrels. Dak quickly got to a crouched position and started firing the marksmen, taking out charging legionaries. He took cover as a group of legionaries armed with carbines and cowboy repeaters showed up and started firing at their position. He dropped the empty carbine magazine and tried to put in a service rifle clip but, to his dismay, the rifle's well wouldn't accept the clip. Almost as if on cue, Boone put three magazines down in front of Dak and gave him a thumb up. Dak returned the gesture and slapped a new round in and cocked back the bolt to chamber a new round and began firing again.

"Trooper what is your name and rank?" The Courier asked out loud so as to be heard over the gun fire.

"Cpl. Dak Stevens, 1st battalion, easy company, sir" Dak responded.

"Well Stevens, I need your help pushing to that shack up ahead," the Courier said as he pointed out a building up ahead that had another group of legionnaires burst forth from, "I need to get into the Legate's camp and end him to cease this attack!"

"Yes sir!" Dak looked around for his commanding officers and noticed the captain and lieutenant were both dead and the sergeant was wounded and being held down by two medics. He took a deep breath to trying and relieve the panic that had set in once he realized he was the highest ranking soldier in his company and yelled out, "Easy Company, on me! Let's punch a hole through those Legion bastards!"

The entire line of soldiers let out a deep resounding 'HUAH' and Dak, Boone and the Courier stood with the rest of the NCR soldiers and charged forward, throwing off the legion forces that were charging, Dak could even see a younger one around his age hesitate momentarily because the shock of the charge and was impaled by a centurion's machete gladius. That spurred the legion forces to continue their charge and he knew it would be like two tidal waves come crashing towards each other. Dak started to panic as he realized that he was charging a bunch of legionnaires. He went to draw his knife, and as his knife cleared its sheath, Dak felt a breeze pass from behind him and a faint zipping sound pass by his ear and all of a sudden, line after line of legionnaires fell down dead. Dak turned around to see 1st recon snipers and rangers on towers and behind cover, picking off legionnaires, leaving very few survivors to be overtaken by the swarm of troopers. Almost all of the people in the charge except Dak, Boone, the Courier, and a couple of troopers from Easy company, jumped onto the surviving legionnaires and proceeded to stab them and beat them savagely with the butt stocks of their rifles or whatever else they could grab.

As they reached the building separating the dam and the path leading to the Legate's base, the Courier turned to face Dak. "Cpl. Stevens, I need you to hold here and make sure no one follows me in, me and Boone will deal with the rest ahead," the Courier held out his hand to shake, "the name is Jamieson also, at least that's what I can remember it being."

He took the Courier's hand and shook it firmly and flashed a smile, "yes sir, also call me Dak, and hurry back sir, we will hold here."

Jamieson nodded at him and ran through the door and Boone stopped in front of Dak and the rest of easy company, "you did well Easy Company, you did well." With that, Boone ran through the door after Jamieson. Dak set up the troops in defensive position and turned control over to a ranger and he said that Dak definitely earned a battlefield commission. An hour went by and the door opened behind the defensive line, making some of the troopers jump. General Oliver, a group of desert rangers, Jamieson, and Boone came walking through the door, Boone and Jamieson looked haggard and blood from a violent melee covered their bodies. Jamieson nodded at Dak and continued along towards the NCR command center towards the beginning of the Dam. He sighed and spent the next five hours clearing the dam and surrounding area of any pockets of resistance from the Legion's forces.

(One month later)

Dak hurried through the doors of the house resort's main doors, almost barreling into two Rangers that were exiting the building. He turned around and apologizing profusely to the two Rangers and they wave him off like it was nothing. Dak relaxed and continues to run towards the briefing room set up by the NCR special operations command. He had been confused when the messenger had come to his tent, telling him to head to the briefing room. As soon as he opened the door to the room, a flying robot ball nearly crashed right into his face and he drew his 9mm pistol and aimed at the robot when he heard a familiar voice yell out.

"ED-E, get back here you flying junk ball," came Jamieson's voice from inside the room. Dak was pleasantly shocked to hear the Courier's voice again; it had been a month almost since the battle at Hoover Dam and there had been rumors about Jamieson along the lines of him dying in the divide, fighting tribals in the old Utah state, a trip to a mysterious casino shrouded in death, and something about the Big Empty, Dak couldn't remember that rumor all that well.

Dak walked in scratching his tiny beard he was trying to grow and took off his helmet, revealing his dirty blonde hair that was a half an inch thicker than a crew cut's standard. He had a scar across his jaw line courtesy of a freeside drug addict looking to score some caps with another scar above his eye from the battle at the Dam. "Jamieson, it's good to see you again!" He said cheerfully in his southern drawl.

"Ah Cpl. Stevens, how are you my friend?" Jamieson came up and they shook each other's hand heartedly.

"It's actually 2nd Lt. Stevens now, that little stunt we pulled on the Dam helped bump me up quite a bit, not to mention a couple other events that are a little hush hush," Dak beamed as he showed his lieutenant bars and his new ranger armor. He was approached after Hoover Dam with an invitation to join the rangers and he passed selection and was currently working in 22nd special Ranger group (a.k.a. the long roamers). His group was specially created for exploring and scouting out new territories to be taken by the NCR.

Jamieson and Dak shook hands and that was when he noticed the two bars on Jamieson's collar. Jamieson must have noticed Dak's dumbstruck look and answered before he could ask. "Yes I am a captain in the NCR now, I joined the NCR shortly after the damn and General Oliver, along with Colonel Hsu and Moore thought it would be appropriate that I be made a captain after all I have done for the NCR here in New Vegas," Jamieson beamed as he explained to Dak.

Dak quickly snapped to a salute and that gained a chuckle from both Jamieson and Boone, who had just showed up out of nowhere and was sitting on a chair with his legs propped up on the table. This shocked Dak, as from what the stories he heard were true, Boone was always up tight and ready to kill, but here, he was just kicking back as he swilled down a Nuka Cola.

"Making them salute already Jamieson? I didn't peg you as the superior officer who flaunted his rank type," Boone jeered and Jamieson laughed. Boone looked different, almost lighter; the scowl was gone, even though it was a blank look almost with a smirk showing once in awhile.

"Well I think they should have made me a Major because I had to deal with you all this time," Jamieson retorted with a smile on his face and he turned back to Dak, "put your hand down Dak, no need to salute me." Jamieson clapped Dak on the shoulder heartily and lead him to the table where a bunch of maps, both old world, and hand drawn scout maps were laid out. Dak looked around the room and noticed that besides him, Jamieson, and Boone, there was only three other rangers. All three were members of Dak's squad and we all nodded to each other and they went back to doing their various tasks. The door that Dak came through creaked open and in walked an older officer, easily the age of Dak's father, and he was wearing a casual ranger outfit with a long trench coat that was patterned in NCR style. They all stood at attention as the older man strode up to the desk.

"I am Major John Kasmir, from military intelligence, we have a very sensitive mission that we need you men to accomplish," Major Kasmir paused as he pulled out a folder out of the briefcase he was caring, inside was a .45 caliber pistol that looked like it was from the old world, not one made by the Gun Runners. The Major saw Dak eye balling his pistol and spoke up, "you know how old that gun is boy?"

Dak shook his head, "no sir."

"Older then everyone in this room combined," The old major chuckled and ran his finger across an engraving saying J. Kasmir, Sergeant, Operation Colmar, OSS, 1944.

"We have discovered a couple key communities in the northwest, in the former state of Washington, our expansion forces are moving northward, convincing settlements in Oregon to join the NCR, but there are three settlements that command has found to be strangely active, even talks of working old world vehicles and such," The major laid down a map of Washington and it had three towns circled, Bellingham, Ferndale, and Lynden were the names.

"Major Kasmir, what caught commands attention? These settlements look unimportant and it looks like the only way to reach it is through Seattle, and that is a main city, so wouldn't it be dangerous?" Boone asked as he studied the map. This map was not like an old world tourist map, it was military by the looks of it, it should grid references, evacuation routes, deployment of troops, and cities deemed to irradiated or destroyed to traverse. Seattle was marked at medium radiation levels and was predicted to be clear of major radiation zones by 2120.

"One of our border patrol squads came across a body of a man who looked like a civilian and was carrying a bag with personal effects, holo tapes, assorted books, a weapon, etc," Major Kasmir pulled out a couple of holo tapes and set them on the table. "These holo tapes are academic in nature and this," Kasmir holds up a specific holo tape, "is a record of graduation and showing subjects in engineering and medicine with a graduation date of last year."

"Could be a follower of the apocalypse scholar," Jamieson shrugged and suggested.

"That's what the duty chief thought, until one of the follower doctors looked at it and told him it was a pre war certificate and was made last year, definitely not follower in origin," Kasmir responded as he put the tapes away, "gentleman, I think we found ourselves a bastion of knowledge and we need to make contact with these people." Kasmir looked around, "you are to go to camp McCarren and hitch a ride with a vertibird up to a remote landing strip that we found near the city of Wenatchee Washington and from there, make it on foot to interstate 5 and head north, once the vertibird reaches the Washington line, we will lose contact with you, be safe gentlemen."

With that the briefing ended and Dak walked out to the main hall and tried to clear his head. _Command is really sending us in to find a town of knowledge? I am a combat recon specialist, not a pioneer, and why is the Courier coming? He is the poster child for the NCR here._ He thought as he rummaged through his pockets for a cigarette and his lighter. A clap on his back shifted his attention for his cigarette and light to Jamieson, who had just shown up behind him.

"Kind of odd that command decided to have you come along," Dak commented as he lit his cigarette and took a drag, "I would think they would have more important missions for you around here."

Jamieson smiled as he looked out across the water. "I am coming along because of my skill set and I have this," Jamieson held up his arm with the pip boy on it and shook it to make emphasis. He then pulled out a pack of cigarettes and popped out a cig from the stack and pulled it away with his teeth and lit it with a fancy lighter.

"Nice light you got there," Dak commented.

"This thing?" Jamieson asked as he held it up and looked over it and a grime look played across his face, "I killed a man for this."

Dak started laughing a little and stopped as soon as he saw the Courier's grime expression.

"I am being serious Dak; I killed a couple of Great Khans down in boulder city while I was chasing down a man that put a bullet through my head," Jamieson spoke grimly as his hand traced a point on his head that was without hair, "His name was Benny, the leader of the Chairmen, he put a bullet in my brain for his." Jamieson grabbed the necklace he had on and pulled out what looked like a poker chip made out of platinum and held it up for Dak to see.

"Why the hell would a Chairman try to kill you over a fancy poker chip?" Dak asked with confusion playing across his face.

"You know those securitrons running around Vegas acting as police?" Jamieson asked.

"Yeah, had my ass back hauled to the embassy more than enough times by them" Dak exclaimed and started to laugh at the fact as he remembered waking up multiple times in a cell and even being first name basis with some of the NCR MPs.

With that grime look on Jamieson face almost frozen in place, "this chip upgraded those securitrons and was meant to be used by the late Mr. House to take over all of New Vegas from both the NCR and the Legion."  
>"Holy shit," Dak voice dropped to a shocked whisper as the color drained from his face at the thought of facing those robots in battle.<p>

"Two minutes later and I ended his plans for taking over and this chip became useless afterwards," Jamieson moved it between his fingers with great dexterity, "After all that I suffered to get this back, it felt wrong to just throw it away, and I didn't want anyone else to get access to this thing's former power so I drilled a hole through it and made a necklace out of it."

"Don't you think it would have been good to give that technology and control to the NCR?" Dak asked, "It could have saved hundreds of lives."

The look the Courier gave him made him feel like he had just been hit by an anti material rifle. "No man should ever control power like this, this is what makes tyrants out of the trust worthy!" Jamieson almost yelled and in an almost drill instruct tone of voice, and then his voice became calmer but kept its tone, "Power like this is what drove Man to turn the world into a wasteland!" Jamieson sighed deeply as he pulled out a flask and twisted the top off and Dak's nostrils instantly came under assault from the smell of whiskey as Jamieson took a swig from the flask. "Sorry I snapped, it has been a long week and I know I have only a little time to rest before our mission," Jamieson recapped the flask and put it back in his pouch, "I will see you at McCarren tomorrow 2nd Lieutenant."

Dak nodded and snapped off a salute and left for his tent as soon as Jamieson returned it and walked away.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the fallout series, I simply write stories based on Bethesda softwork's Fallout New Vegas and Fallout 3, most of my info is based on knowledge from the Fallout Three and New Vegas, along with .Com, and my own ideas for the story. So please Bethesda spies, do not hunt me down with lawsuits, I am just a fan boy with a wild hair to right a story based on a good series.

Objects in this story may be made up, please refer to .com to reference any items or events, if I have stated something in error, please leave it in the review section. I am trying to write this story as best I can to the feel of the fallout story, though some places visited have been mostly spared of radiation, and my view of the fates of the other countries in the world are based on my speculations, and like I said earlier, if I have been in error of fact, please tell me so in the reviews as well as a link to any sites with said info. Also it is mentioned in the fallout bible that the NCR does have Aerial and mechanized units, so they will be present in the story.

Also sorry it has been a bit of time to post this story, been in Las Vegas (oh the irony) for my 21st birthday.

Chapter Two: Five by fuck!

(The next day)

Dak waited outside the McCarren terminal building, taking another long drag on his cigarette and repeatedly check the clock on his Vault-Tec PDA (personal data assistant). It was a little handheld device that was used before the great war by people in the old world in their daily tasks. The clock read it was 3 p.m. and Dak scanned the camp. The Courier hadn't shown up yet, neither did any of his friends besides the ghoul Raul, or was it Miguel? He wasn't too sure since the jumpsuit the ghoul was wearing had the tag saying Miguel on it. Then Dak's ears twitched at a change of sound in the air, it was a faint whipping sound that was slowly getting louder. Dak shielded his eyes from the merciless Nevada sun as he looked around for what he guessed must have been the Vertibird that was supposed to be here already. A flash caught his eye on the horizon and was quickly joined by a second dot that was rapidly growing into two Vertibirds. _What the hell? I thought we were only being sent in with a small team, where are two Verts coming?_ Dak wondered then his skin began to crawl and he thumbed his light machine gun's safety off, _Shit they could be Enclave, I thought they were wiped out long ago._ As the Vertibirds came closer, small symbols began to form on the fuselage and hull of the craft. _NCR, okay good those are our birds_. Dak realized he had been holding his breath and let it out in a rush.

"What the hell is that? Enclave?" A trooper behind him asked.

"No you moron, we kicked their asses back at Navarro, after their little oil rig got blown up," another replied, followed by a sound of someone being smacked.

"Back to work assholes, those are our birds, so stop your jaw jacking or I will start cracking them!" came a voice so stern and aggressive that it even turned Dak's blood cold, "What the hell are you doing you useless meat bag, standing there gawking at pretty little fly boys?"

Dak turned around and was so close to the man with what could only be the devil's voice that he could smell his last meal. It was one of the NCR drill instructors based at McCarren and he was Dak's height but with his demeanor and the murderous scowl playing across his face, he seemed to grow three feet taller. "Si…sir those Vertibirds are here for my squad, I am part of the 22nd rangers," Dak managed to feebly reply under the deadly glare of the drill instructor and I see his eyes fall upon my collar, noticing the officers bars pinned on my uniform and he steps back and snaps off a salute.

"Sorry sir, I thought you were another slack jaw, pansy ass trooper standing around doing jack shit and fondling himself," The drill instructor's neck seemed to pulse as he shot a dirty look at a couple of troopers standing around talking, the troopers catch the stare and turn ghost white in the face and hurry off to whatever task they were originally assigned to.

Dak was slightly irritated by the drill instructor's pervious verbal assault and his own inability to tell the instructor who he was but brushed the thought aside, "it's okay D.I., just next time make sure you know who you are verbally beating down before you start, others may not take kindly to it." He nodded at the instructor and returned the salute from the D.I.

With that, the D.I. turned around and surveyed the base and already his muscles in his neck started pulsing as he zeroed in on a group of troopers sitting on crates and talking. With jaw clenched, the D.I. moved across the yard, eyes locked on the troopers and yelling incoherent threats and insults, and judging by the things he said, Dak assumed he must be very familiar with their mothers.

Dak sighed and chuckled as he saw the instructor pull out a police baton and waved it menacingly at the troopers who scattered like a pack of brahmin being chased by a nightstalker. Then the whipping sound of propeller blades caught his attention again and turned to spot the Vertibirds, he was surprised to see they were about ready to land. _That's weird, normally those things are so noisy you can hear one passing over freeside from here_, He pondered as he looked up, shielding his eyes from the sun. The two Vertibirds were slightly different in design, both were in the shape of some kind of flying insect from the old world…a dragon fly but one was shorter than the other and was sporting weaponry under its wings and a turret on its nose. _That is probably one of the Vertibird gunships taken by the NCR during the NCR-Enclave campaign_, Dak nodded as he had to admire its deadly looking beauty; _I wonder what the gunship is here for._ A pit formed in his stomach, something he always got whenever things would get bad.

"Soldier, you might want to get back, you're in their landing zone," came a voice from behind him.

Dak quickly retreated backwards and saw the Vertibirds slowly glide down. He spun around in place to see who had spoke to him and spied Colonel James Hsu, the acting commander of Camp McCarren, standing between two tents with a cigarette protruding from his lips and Dak instantly snapped off a salute. "Colonel! I didn't realize I was in the landing zone, thank you, I don't think my ride would be gracious towards me if I had kept standing there," Dak managed to spew out his words nervously. _What is with me today? I am too on edge lately._

Colonel Hsu smiled and returned the salute, "at easy ranger, I take it you're with the 22nd."

"Yes sir," Dak responded as he stood at attention.

"What is your name?" Colonel Hsu's eyes locked in on Dak and even though his tag was right on his chest, he knew that the Colonel was probably making sure that Dak was really a ranger and not an infiltrator, it was the worst kept secret that McCarren had been infiltrated before the second battle of Hoover Dam.

"2nd Lt. Dak Stevens sir, 22nd Rangers," he wondered why he added his unit, Colonel Hsu already knew his unit.

Colonel Hsu nodded and extinguished his cigarette and motioned for Dak to come closer. Walking towards the Colonel, Dak heard the main gate rumble open and saw three NCR supply trucks pull in as the gates were opened fully and the lead truck pulled in front of the terminal building. The Colonel was also observing the truck, a hint of suspicion in his eyes that seemed to evaporate as he saw whoever was getting out of the truck, though Dak's view was blocked by the tent in front of him.

Then the Colonel smiled and started talking to someone behind the tent and pointed towards Dak and the Vertibirds. "The Vertibirds are here Jamieson, they just need to have a last minute check up and restocked before take off," Colonel Hsu said in a reply to a question that the Courier must have asked.

Jamieson rounded the corner and spotted Dak and moved towards him holding a rucksack. "I see you didn't get the revised time huh Dak?" Jamieson asked as he set his rucksack down.

"No, I must have missed it; I decided to hike it from Camp Golf to here last night," Dak leaned against one of the posts that used to be parking lights back when this area was a parking lot back in the old world, "got a little tricky getting past those psychotic fiends, had to take out a couple and ended up being chased almost to the gates."

"And that is why you don't travel alone in New Vegas," Jamieson stated as he light up a cigarette, "otherwise you'll end up like me, a bullet in the head and changing the outcome of a war."

Dak chuckled and lit his own cigarette as Hsu and Jamieson started talking again, Boone walked past Dak and nodded grimly to him and moved to the now powered down Vertibirds and stowing his gear inside. Dak's insides turned cold at seeing the old, grim Boone returned, it was always followed by trouble and conflict, much like his life after Bitter Springs, a story that was told to him by Jamieson. The three other rangers showed up and all nodded at Dak, two of them were 20 year vets and therefore were sporting black NCR ranger armor and the other one was a regular Ranger like Dak. They all lined up in front of Dak and saluted him. He saluted back, but awkwardly so, due to the fact that these men have been with the NCR long enough to remember the first march into New Vegas and a smaller NCR.

The first ranger in the line was Mendoza, a medium build, Hispanic man from southern NCR, and used a light machine gun, a 9mm pistol, and a machete, which was odd because most rangers were known to use revolver and lever action weapons and he was using an automatic rifle. The next man was actually a ghoul by the name of Hank, Hank was from the old world and had owned a ranch in southern Nevada and kept referring to Vegas as "Las Vegas". He was sporting a Brush rifle and two .357 magnum revolvers with two combat knives strapped to his chest, looking more like a bandito than a ranger, the only difference was Hank was wearing black NCR armor. The last man was a veteran ranger that went by the name of Gabriel, a man more shrouded in mystery than the Big Empty, he came packed with a grenade launcher, a sword that he had found in an old Chinese house that must have been used for spying during the old world, and a brush rifle also. They all moved towards the transport Vertibird and stowed their gear and strapped themselves in.

"Time to get moving Lt. Stevens," Hsu voice came from behind.

"Yes sir," Dak turned and saluted the Colonel and was surprised to see his hand stuck out waiting to be shaken. Dak took his hand and shook it.

"Good luck son, this is an important mission they are giving you rangers, go spread our word and help the NCR grow," Hsu shook his hand firmly and released his grip.

"We will sir," Dak nodded as he picked up his bag and headed for the Vertibird. Jamieson was already situated next to Boone and Raul, the ghoul must have gotten on with Jamieson when Dak and Hsu were talking; all three were talking in low murmurs. Hank and Mendoza were talking away with speculation of the missions. Gabriel held a small book with what looked like a lower case "t" on it, than Dak felt ashamed as he realized the "t" was actually a cross and he was actually reading a bible. He didn't speak to anyone, just sat there, mouthing the words he was reading and his eyes darted back and forth across the page in an almost manic tempo. Sitting down, Dak buckled in and closed his eyes to try and rest. Slowly sleep started to overcome him as the Vertibird slowly lifted off.

(Seven hours later)

Dak's eyes flew open as the Vertibird rocked back and forth violently. The passenger bay was glowing in a dull red with a flashing light. He looked around and saw concern in all the eyes of the people in the bay. "What the hell is going on pilot?"Dak screamed out over the roar of the engines and clattering equipment.

"Sir, we are encountering hostile fire, we are just outside Wenatchee Nation Forest," The pilot yelled back as he struggled to control the craft, "We got winged by a missile and lost hydraulics on the left wing."

An explosion rocked the Vertibird. "Holy shit! The gunship is going down!" The pilot screamed.

Dak looked out the window and saw the smaller bird falling towards the ground with its wings ripping off. The craft handed hard among the trees, knocking a few down. "Pilot, take us down at the clearing there! We have to check for survivors!" Dak yelled as a siren kicked on because a lack of air pressure set in.

"Roger that sir!" The pilot dodged another missile launcher and glided towards the clearing.

"Rangers, ready up! We are in hostile land and they obviously got some heavy gear, weapons and ammo only, we are going to pull and survivors from the crash and get them back here!" Dak yelled as he pulled out his Marksman Carbine along with his weapons and retrieved his weapons bag. The others readied their weapons and all lined up at the back hatch. It dropped open and they charged out of the craft and crouched around the wheat field.

"Hank, Mendoza, and Raul, stay here and guard the Vertibird, no one comes close unless it's us or the crew from the gunship, everyone else, follow me," Dak ordered as he moved out across the field, cursing himself for the lack of cover of his choice of landing zones.

They dashed across the field, pointing their guns at anything that moved and as they neared the tree line, Dak could make out movement in the tree line and saw a glint of a scope. "Get down!" he yelled as he dove for the ground, a fury of bullets sprayed across where Dak was standing only moments before. Looking around, he noticed that all the others had taken cover too.

"Jamieson, Boone, give covering fire on the stand of trees over there and cover me and Gabriel as we move towards that old wreck over there," Dak pointed to an old rusted tractor and moved as soon as Boone and Jamieson opened fire. He dashed across the field till he reached the old husk and sighted in on a man wearing green combat armor and fired five quick shots, one bounced off his armor but the other four struck his body and he toppled to the ground. Dak sighted in a second man wearing the same armor and dropped him quickly. Just then, he heard screaming come from the tree line and saw the troopers try to break cover and run towards them. _What the hell? Are they charging us? _Dak peaked up more to get a better view and saw an enemy soldier get thrown from the tree line and was quickly followed by what looked like Yao Guai but they didn't look irradiated like in California or Nevada. The Yao Guai tore through the soldiers with frightening speed and strength and Dak motioned Jamieson and the others to stay down.

One of the beasts pinned down one of the hostiles and bit into his neck and giving it a vicious jerk of its head, being rewarded with a cascade of blood spraying into its face and into the air. The beast stood on its hind legs and sniffed the air in their direction, Dak held his breath, worried that his breath would give him away. If the beast had sniffed them out, it must have not cared, because it turned around and walked back into the woods, dragging a corpse of one of the men in green armor with it.


End file.
